South Australia (-3.7%) recorded the largest fall in sales in December, followed by Tasmania (-2.0%) , Victoria (-1.0%), Queensland (-0.6%), the Northern Territory (-0.4%), the Australian Capital Territory (-0.4%) and Western Australia (-0.1%).

New South Wales was the only state to record growth in sales in December (0.1%).

Trend turnover for December 2009 rose by 0.3%.

In seasonally adjusted volume terms, retail turnover rose 1.1% in the December quarter 2009. This compares with a fall of 0.7% in the September quarter 2009.

In trend volume terms, retail turnover rose 1.3% for the December quarter 2009. This is the 5th consecutive quarter of positive trend volume growth.

Further information is available in Retail Trade, Australia (cat no. 8501.0) on the ABS website at www.abs.gov.au

Media Note: Please ensure when reporting on ABS data that you attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.